Ryan Paul & THE ARDENT has partnered up with NoiseTrade to offer you a copy of La Vita Nuova for free. It’s pretty simple… tell 5 friends, or simply pay whatever you want to. If you own it and you like it, this is a good way to get your friends in on it. If you don’t have it yet, you have very little to lose. NoiseTrade is an awesome company and we feel that the music industry is going in this direction.

I would like to first note that the Bunkers show two weeks ago was a blast! It was a strange feeling to come up from the basement to see all the faces there. I think we brought the rock. I hope we brought the rock. We brought somethin’.
Being the first time going electric, I was a bit apprehensive about the show itself. We actually never took time to go through any of those songs beforehand. We went blind. In retrospect, with the number of people at that particular show, it was a bit of a risky play, but it worked out.
There were other factors involved in the chips stacked against us that evening. Steve Goold flew in that evening from playing in Texas and could have been tired, but he was ripe and ready to go. Personal lives of band members seemed to be a bit chaotic and I think we all went on stage with fairly heavy hearts. I know I did. But seconds into it… release.
That night marked another turning point for RP&TA. We have had quite a few in a short amount of time as we are trying to find our “voice” in the Minneapolis music scene. Hell, we are on our second go-round with the album (I will talk more about this later). Standing up on that stage with that guitar strapped around my neck made us realize that we were destined to be a little… well… louder. So from here on out, that is what you are going to be getting from us.

Steve Goold did the unthinkable. Well, it was not unthinkable per se, but I never saw it actually going down. We went into the studio to lay down drums for 12 songs and had hopes it would get done in one day. The plan was to start at 9am. Traffic held Steve up a hour. We loaded in and our engineer had to leave for a family emergency. We did not actually start tracking our first song until 11:30am.
Steve and engineer Dave Perez were masterful and efficient. I think Mr. Goold pulled out 5 tracks in one take. None were done in more than 4. The best part is that, despite everything that came up, we ended the session EARLY. I cannot wait for this record to get done. It is looking like the plan for Spring 2009 is going to be an achievable goal.

In light of the studio recording, we will be taking all February and much of March from playing live. However, on March 12th, we put together a night with some of my favorite musicians at the 331 Club in NE Minneapolis. The other performers will be Eliza Blue and Matty O’Reillly w/John Schjolberg. Plan for it. More details as it creeps closer.

On Wednesday, THE ARDENT and I played a show for/with our good friend Kate Kunkel and Light Of Hope. This evening is certainly going to go down as one of the more memorable evenings of my life. There are a whole variety of reasons for it’s significance, but I’ll lay out a couple of them here.

I was pleased to see Dean Magraw. He is such a beast on the guitar. He is one of those guys that makes what he does look so simple and I imagine myself replicating what he is capable of… until I go and pick up my guitar and realize that it ‘ain’t as easy as it looks’.

Brandon Sampson of Six Mile Grove was a pleasant surprise. I have had a few opportunities to listen to SMG’s records, but must have been distracted – – This guy is adroit, ingenious, and skillful in all that he does on stage. His songs were brilliant, his voice was piercing (in a good way), and his presence was pronounced. I hope to have the opportunity to do more with Brandon and Six Mile Grove in the future.

The moment arrived when THE ARDENT and I were to take the stage. Things seemed rushed, but that isn’t a new thing. It is possible that I was inattentive because I knew what we had up our sleeve for the set. For the first two songs, we pulled up Kate Kunkel as a guest vocalist. Kate and I had gone over a few songs the week prior, but even I was not sure how she was going to take to the stage; the audience; the lights. Kate was about as chic and graceful as they come as she lightly layered beautiful harmony lines under mine. I was partially blown away as I was hearing it all happen.

Kate has become a very dear friend to me and this was a really great moment. Rest assured, from this point on, if she is at a show, I will be dragging her up on stage. It was too much fun!

To top the whole thing off, a lot of money was raised for Karati Kenya. Old friends showed their faces. new friends were made. I hope everyone rested well that evening. I was agreeably spent…

I am looking forward to our show next week at The Hollow. I have already gone on and on to explain my interest in the cause. I may go a little further…

Last week we played two shows to raise money for an organization called Urban Ventures. This organization is one that directly contributes to South Minneapolis residents only. I live in South Minneapolis and am able to see the devastating effects of drugs and violence in the neighborhood. It was quite rewarding to know that the work that everyone contributed will go to change the lives of some of the people I see every single day.

We were approached to do the benefit for Light Of Hope a few months ago and I had been dropping hints with Kate Kunkle since before the concert’s inception. I will admit that I do not know what the poverty level in Kenya is like on a personal level. No matter what economic bracket that any of we Americans may fall in, we are still rich by comparison.

A few weeks ago, Mumbai India was attacked and I was quite affected by it. A friend had just returned from India and the gift that she had purchased for me was sitting on my desk as I watched the story unfold on CNN.com. Another friend had a terrifying dream about a city in India the night before the attacks. She and I had spoke about the nightmare hours before the attack happened. Both of these things made the attack on Mumbai very real to me.

It became very evident to me that I am not nearly as concerned about what is going on around the world as I should be. I have become terribly numb. In a song by Derek Webb, he says “I join the oppressors of those I choose to ignore.” and I think that statement is true for me as well.

I am excited to raise some money for some people who I will never meet who live in a country that I will most likely never visit.

DEAN MAGRAW will also be playing this benefit. In 2001, one of my earlier bands played a festival called “The Big Wu Family Reunion”. This festival was the first time I ever had the opportunity to have my face melted off by Mr, Dean Magraw. Since that time I have tried to follow his busy career. I have always hoped for a day when I would get the chance to play a show with Dean. This is one of my dreams coming into reality. I feel quite fortunate.

This week on December 4th, we will be playing two shows. The first is a private show for the release of “Reciprocity” and the second will be a late night show at Lee’s where we will bring a handful of copies of the disc to share. These shows are a big deal to me because of the disc.

“Reciprocity” is a project that elli rader and I worked very hard on. It is a collection of songs by local artists who contributed all of their time (not to mention the songs) to this cause. “Reciprocity” will directly contribute to youth programs at Urban Ventures. 100%!!! It will work specifically with the killer recording studio that is built there. I really can’t stress how cool this cause is.

Two weeks from now on December 17th, we will be playing The Hollow to help raise money for our friend Kate Kunkle, who is climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise money for a clinic in rural Kenya. elli rader has worked hard to put this show together and the line up is great. 100% of your cover charge will go toward the construction!! How cool is that?!?

Here is why I am excited about these shows: WE (all of us) have the opportunity to do something very simple to offer aide to those very close to us (Urban Ventures) and those very far away (Karati, Kenya). And here is why I am personally investing my time: I took a step back and looked at my life and I have been given so much and I want to give back – To level the playing field. Give someone else a shot.

When I was approached with these opportunities and they asked me to just show up and play some tunes, I dove in. THE ARDENT has also been very cool about giving their time and effort to these projects… and elli rader – was instrumental both. You’ll probably never see her. She’ll never ask for credit for the work she does. It is tough to give her credit for her contributions because the list is 10 miles long… but I thought I would throw her name out here. She probably won’t blush too much over it.

Last night Alpha Consumer played at the Turf Club in St. Paul. My first thought was, I do not want to go all the way to St. Paul and would rather stay at home and watch Blazing Saddles. Now. I am not a movie junkie. I watch between 5-10 movies a year. Why would something so out of character entice me more than going to see my good friends play in St. Paul? Jeremy Ylvisaker of Alpha Consumer was one of the producers who worked on the first King Freud record and I was his guitar tech in my younger years. Ever since he started working with Andrew Bird, it has been tough to catch him. Why would I want to sit at home and watch a movie that I know all the words to?*

The answer is pretty simple: St. Paul.

It seems that the Mississippi River is about 40 miles wide and it is impossible for we Minneapolis residents to cross without feeling like packing a lunch and making sure we go to the bathroom before hopping in the vehicle. Why is this? Before I left Minneapolis, I used to go catch Mark Mallman play packed shows at the Turf. I used to go catch JT’s Jazz Implosion on Monday nights in the Clown Lounge. What in the world happened to us? What happened to me? Why is it that it is SO damn hard to get people (myself included) out to concerts these days? I have seen this phenomenon (more of an epidemic) spread throughout the country, but I have always felt that we were a little different here in Minneapolis. But here I am, wanting to spend the night with Mel Brooks and a bag of Doritos rather than going to support a friend/musician who I love so dearly.

I also want to point out that The Turf Club is not a bad venue. I have many fond memories of The Turf. My favorite New Years Eve experience was at the Turf (and shared it with Jeremy Ylvisaker and Mark Mallman among others). In fact, I would go so far as to say that it is a GREAT venue and I would love to book a show there, but keep out of St. Paul because I can play for 5 people in my living room.

I am a big fan of Idaho native Josh Ritter. Josh has put out a ton of live EPs this year. I saw that as kind of a ballsy move. I have enjoyed all of these EPs and really had no issue purchasing them. I think that Josh and these EPs may get people (again, myself included) inspired to go out and see live music again. Something needs to happen.

I don’t really have any thoughts on girls. That was pretty much just an attention getter (for me). I did, however, write what may be my first upbeat cutesy song about butterflies in the stomach last week called “Waking Restless”. We will most likely debut it at Lee’s on December 4th. (Speaking of which, everyone needs to get their asses out there!)

That is it. My head might explode.

.rp

*I thought about starting this rant by blaming Bush, but that would have been pretty far reaching.

**Views expressed do not represent the views of THE ARDENT. These are mine alone.

Not exactly sure why I decided to do this. But here is the start of something that will hopefully be good.

I want to start this blog off right with a little plug for my friend Ed Ackerson (not that he needs it). I just came home from Ed’s CD release show. I was there for the release of his first album last year. I cannot even begin to convey with words how insanely talented Ed is. I would recommend his records to anyone!